This year is only my second year of going to the NWSS, but I feel like I've been going for ages, just because I have so much fun there. My favorite weekend to go (so far and the only weekend I've gone) is the third weekend with the bull displays. As a producer who's just beginning with her herd, it's great to see the up and coming options to use with cattle as well as where genetics can get you. I saw some awesome bulls, and also some where the term "more is too much" applies just a bit. In general, there were a lot of great bulls though. My favorite would have to be Mind That Bird, or Believe in Me.
That was the highlight of my day, as well as getting to eat authentic German food from the booth on the very end of on the hill before you go down into the yards. My family and I live about 3 and a half hours away from Denver, so its a good drive down. We ended up getting up at 5 and not getting out of the house until nearly seven after everyone was fed down below in our barn. Once we pulled into one of the parking lots behind the yards, it became a lot more exciting. Not a lot of the bulls were out quite yet, so we decided to head into the inside exhibits. We wound our way through the inside exhibits, and made it up to the floor where all of the vendors are.
I'm not a big fan of the whole shopping at the NWSS, probably because I don't like shopping a whole lot in general. I did end up getting a mug and a shirt at the official merchandise store though. Around noon my two friends and I headed down to watch the two ring show of Maine Anjou junior heifer calves and junior Shorthorn bulls. I was fine with watching that until we decided to head back out to the yards for round two of looking at the bulls. We stopped and went to get lunch, and ten minutes later I had a hot german brat in my hand. It's not a trip to Denver without getting a brat on the hill for me.
Soon after lunch, and we were down in the yards, we ran into my parents. The five of us headed to the arena in the yards to watch the prospect show. We caught the end of the Simmental show, and soon found our seats where my sister and her boyfriend joined us. We stayed until about the middle of the show before we decided to pack up and head home.
The ride home was extremely fun, and we laughed nearly the whole way back. I think it was from all of the sugar that we had ingested from the things we bought in Cracker Barrel's store. Oops.
Through out the day I told my friends that I really wished I could've brought my heifer down this year, but we didn't quite make it. There's always next year, and maybe I can show her as a bred heifer. Although I'm only starting out with one animal for the herd I wish to build in the future, I think I have a good foundation with my heifer. I plan to breed her in late June/ early July. I can't say that I won't care what she has, but I can say that both her and the calf being alive at the end of her pregnancy are my top priority.
We're headed back down on Thursday for something I cannot wait to see as an exhibitor: the market beef show. I've only watched market shows at my county fair and progress shows, so I can't wait to see the national level's competition. Thanks to a close family friend and his experience with being there with a family who ended being in the winner circle quite a few years back, I'm prepared to be 'blown out of the water'.
As I was writing this, my dog wanted to say hello, so here's a picture of her being the spoiled dog she is. I bet half of the people's dogs down at NWSS live outside, let alone being able to sleep on the couch.
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